Welcome to this week’s haiku pea podcast with Patricia, episode 11 of the second series.
This week’s podcast is, I have to say, not what I was planning. I thought I could do a great deal of reading and some writing whilst I was away, but my dear husband had other ideas. He had me teak oiling the patio furniture and putting together stuff from Ikea. That’s not to say I didn’t get to the beach, but I don’t like reading treasured books on the beach. So today I have no opinion piece for you.
I was going to talk about the reading of haiku because it is a topic that quite a few people have emailed me about. I get the impression that often haiku or senryu are written off too quickly, rather than savoured like a good wine. Anyway that topic will be for episode 13. If you have any thoughts, send them to me via email.
To make up for my laziness I have a book review for you “The Deer’s Bandana by David Oates (I don’t receive any remuneration) and a couple of haiku from m shane pruett which didn’t fall into any of my topics for the year, but I wanted to share with you and I’m happy to say, the renku continues…
I hadn’t read any work by David Oates until he send me a copy of his book for review.
David is very involved in the written and spoken word. He hosts a radio programme, he has performed amateur stand up, he has been an editor and publisher and has had a few books published and much, much more.
This book, his latest, “The Deer’s Bandana” is published by Brick Road Poetry press.
David’s website.
Some of the haiku in the collection are one image pieces. Successful one image haiku are difficult to write. Often I feel that they do not allow readers to exercise their imagination. As those of you who listen to the podcast or chat with me via email may know. I prefer a show, not tell approach, one in which there might be a light bulb moment, which it is very hard to achieve with one image.
David, however, does achieve the ah ha moment in some of his one image pieces, let me give you an example:
cut roses
by the young man’s grave
blooms still fresh
Turning this over in my mind, It made me ask many questions, which is something a good haiku piece should do, don’t you think?
That David has had experience in comedy, is evident in his work. I really enjoyed his observational pieces, which are frequently humorous, pieces like this:
every day
hundreds of latte
drawings gone in a gulp
I’d like to finish with this, which would have been excellent submission for the next podcast, on an erotic theme. Still time to get your submissions in, deadline 10th June.
wool shirt
his nipple still tender
from her bite
Thanks for sharing this with me David. It was a pleasure reading it.
You will have heard some work from my featured guest m shane pruett in the topical podcasts, but sometimes you lovely poets send me work which doesn’t always fall easily into one of the topic categories, but I love them too much to pass them up. Let me share with you two pieces that I fell in love with.
m shane pruett
Twitter @haikumybrew
this morning
a trickle of birdsong
gathering storm
tiny fish
in a tidepool
troubled sky
Both of these haiku had me thinking. I had not noted how birdsong reduces when a storm is coming and now I will have to listen out. I can usually tell by looking over the hedge at the bottom of the garden that a storm is on the way. The clouds announce it. Now I shall employ my ears too.
The second piece speaks to me of the times we live in, or at least my perception of them. I sometimes feel like one of those tiny fish, stuck, at least temporarily in the tidepool whilst there is trouble all around me…
Thank you Shane for submitting these pieces.
Now the renku has not moved on too much this time. It’s my fault, I’m frozen. But there are no patio chairs in need of painting this week, so I will try and get the words together. I know what I want to write, I just can’t get the words to work.
Mineko Takahashi had the very difficult job of writing verses 18 and 19. These verses would be on different sides of a page if you were writing it as a manuscript and so the same poet writes both. I think she did a splendid job. It gets more difficult the further along the renku you get. Thanks Min.
1.
cold sun
ageing reflections on
orange snowflake
Giddy Nielsen Sweep
2.
the world turns
a half frozen ball
Patricia
3.
over the hill –
now I look forward
to the sunset
Robert Horrobin
4.
in the valley
footprints in the dew
Patricia
5.
water lilies
floating among the stars
—twin moons
m shane pruett
6.
a sedentary cat
stirs the darkness
Patricia
7.
outside the window
a bird sings to itself
catnap
Patricia
8.
silent dawn
eagle soars overhead
Richard Bailly
9.
cumulonimbus
dominate the afternoon sky
Thor’s warriors
Patricia
10.
spotted mare nickering
the hiss of rain on warm stone
Joan Barrett
11.
human hordes
riding white horses
Neptune’s rage
Patricia
12.
galloping calamity
a hard misty place called home
Rickey Rivers Jnr
13.
thick fog
on the yellow brick road
the lion cries
Patricia
14.
Coyotes howl
under the moonlight
Veronica Hosking
15.
autumn dusk
feral dogs
sight the hare
Patricia
16.
sudden dust cloud thwarts
the predators’ ambitions
Andy Syor
17.
somber atmosphere
finding perspective
in gladioli
Patricia
18.
feeling beneath the feet
the fatigue of the bulbs
Mineko Takahashi
19.
yet again next season
resurrection
a cycle of all lives
MinekoTakahashi
Thanks so much to everyone for helping me create the renku so far, I’m really enjoying it.
I must say thank you to everyone who has emailed me with their thoughts on the essence of haiku. I am keeping them, and will be writing a piece in a later podcast. I really value what you are telling me. If you have thoughts and haven’t emailed me yet, please do. I very much believe we are all entitled to our opinions.
That’s it for this week, see in you two weeks time for the erotic podcast. You can still submit, but please do it by email, as that helps me to hopefully, keep the submissions together.
Have wonderful week’s til we meet again, and keep writing…
